PowerColor HD4870 PCS+ Review

Introduction:

Are you looking for some of the most up to date video card hardware out there? Maybe you have been out of the loop for a little while but you are interested in upgrading your computer to score some higher benchmarking scores. Maybe you are a gamer who is looking for higher frame rates. Whatever your reason, you should probably check out the newest video cards from ATI, the HD48xx series. These cards have proven to score very well in all sorts of different areas as well as overclock very well. PowerColor knows what the consumer wants and how to help them out in getting that, this is why the company has added a custom cooler for the core of the HD4870, allowing you to get a lower overall core temperature. I am excited to see what this card looks like and how well it can perform, not only in the benchmarks but also in the overclocking and cooling categories as well.

Closer Look:

The PowerColor HD4870 has its own custom cooler that PowerColor has designed to fit over the core and keep it cooler than the stock cooling solution you will find on many of the different reference board HD48xx cards out there. When you first take a look at the packaging, the light and brilliant color scheme PowerColor has decided to use makes the card feel very elegant. There is a picture of a warrior princess on the front holding a sword, which gives you the idea that the card is very powerful. The top left hand corner is where you are going to find the PowerColor name and at the bottom of the package is where you are going to find the HD4870 name. There is a 10°C temperature drop badge on the front showing you that the custom cooler can drop your overall temperatures. There are a few badges on the right hand corner, the ATI Radeon, ATI CrossfireX, 512MB GDDR5, and Dual DVI HDMI interface. These show you some of the important features you are going to get with your purchase. The back of the packaging is where you are going to find even more information about the card and there is a lot of information about the technology behind the card on the back as well. When you flip to the sides, you are going to find some of the system requirements on one side and the other is pretty much blank.

When you open up the packaging, you are going to find a rather large white box that is inside, when you open that white box up, you are going to find the PowerColor HD4870. The card itself is wrapped in an anti-static bag to keep it safe during the shipping process and to prevent any damage. The card is placed in the box rather snuggly to keep it from moving around and incur any physical damages during its journey. All of the accessories are located behind the card and inside of the white box.

All of the accessories that are bundled with the card add a certain amount of value to your purchase, not only do you get the installation CD as well as the user manual, you are also going to receive a single 6-pin PCI-E power adapter that turns a single 4-pin Molex from your PSU to a 6- pin PCI-E power connector. You also get the CrossfireX bridge so you can use two of the PowerColor HD4870 cards in Crossfire. There are two dongles that turn your DVI ports into either an analog monitor port or a port you can attach your HDMI cable to connect your HDTV to, and there is also an S-Video to RCA cable.

Well now that we know a little more about the PowerColor HD4870 and all of what it is packaged with, I am ready to take a closer look at the card itself.